Pohai Nuʻuhiwa Campbell

Name Pohai Nuʻuhiwa Campbell

Age 35

Town/Moku Kalihi

Island Oʻahu

Social Media Handle @kaleimamohawaii

Nominated by Olu Campbell

Leadership Category Mālama ʻĀina - Environmental Sustainability

Share with us a little about yourself and what you do.

My name is Pohai Nuʻuhiwa Campbell, and I am the māmā behind Kaleimamo Hawaiʻi. Kaleimamo Hawaiʻi is a small, ʻohana-owned business based in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. We strive to create beautiful, reusable cloth diapers and accessories, which feature designs inspired by our indigenous Native Hawaiian culture and stories. Our mission is to help raise our keiki more sustainably, perpetuate our culture, and serve as a resource for our community and beyond.⁠ By day, I am a trust and estates attorney who also does pro bono work for non-profit organizations that serve our ʻāina and our Native Hawaiian community. I believe my work in all of these sectors helps me to cultivate culture, language, and waiwai, and also help ʻohana pass waiwai on to future generations.

Why is the work that you do important to you? The community?

Now, more than ever, it is vital that there are reusable, eco-friendly products available for families so that we can take care of our planet for our children and all generations to come! 20 BILLION disposable kaiapa (diapers) each year are thrown into the landfill and take over 500 years to decompose. Simply put, we need to decrease our waste in this area. I believe that cloth diapering is a simple way for families to be a little bit more eco-friendly and sustainable; however, many do not even know it is an option. I hope to spread awareness in the community about cloth diapering, and to encourage and empower others to give cloth a go! Lastly, each of our designs features Hawaiian language and stories, which helps to perpetuate our culture not only in our local community, but beyond! Like many other commercial sectors, there are diapers that are advertised as "Hawaiian," but do not truly reflect our culture and indigenous thinking. I hope to rectify that and provide products that can help to educate the broader community.

Share with us the qualities of leadership you admire and how you express those in your life.

I respect leaders who have integrity and who are kind, humble, hard working, and reliable. I do my best to satisfy these traits by treating everyone I encounter with respect and being the hardest working person in the room. I learned from an early age that it takes a village and team to support an individual achieving any level of success, and thus, I truly approach all aspects of my work with a humble heart and always give credit to others. During her lifetime, Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, "Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” I try to remember this in all I do. I strive to be a leader that someone will want to follow, someone who inspires others. In this way, I think that I can have the greatest positive impact in our community.

Who has inspired you to do the work that you are doing?

My daughter, Kaleimamo, has inspired us to do the work we are doing and to start this small shop. We want her to understand that it is important to use reusable items and to encourage others in the community to do so as well. We want her to live in a place with clean air, water and reduced waste, and also have ʻāina for generations to come as well. We also want to leave her a legacy that she will be able to continue if she chooses.

What is one word that describes something you are excited about for the lāhui?

ʻŌpio

What is one word that describes a pressing issue that is facing our lāhui?

Wai